Valentine's Day Surprise
by redleaves
Summary: This isn't just your ordinary Valentine's Day story. When Fang shows a sliver of decency, Max is skeptical. Fang is hurt by Max's rejection and disappears. Will Max be able to find him in time before the rest of the Flock notices? Oneshot, FAX.


**Hey everyone! This is my second fanfiction, also for Maximum Ride. I really like it but I'm sorry I didn't get around to posting it until now. Seeing as it's a Valentine's Day theme, it would have been fitting for me to post it around Valentine's Day. Oh well, what can ya do?**

**So, why don't you get on to reading? Oh yeah, that's right, you're too busy reading this nonsense, which is my fault. Sorry, I'll shut up!**

**One more thing! **

**Disclaimer: YEAH, I'm James P., a millionaire who publishes books to earn money and I'm posting something I wrote up last night instead of putting it in my next installment of Maximum Ride! Okay, now seriously: I'm not James P., I don't own his characters, yadda yadda. Although, I do own this plot, tyvm.**

**Alright, NOW read!**

**Oh wait, please be sure to click the review button! And if you really, really, really like it, favourite it please!**

**NOW read!**

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Fang shoved a box of chocolates my way awkwardly and I just stared.

"Uh...Happy Valentine's Day?" he said uncertainly.

I could tell my mouth was hanging open, partly because Fang was giving me a **gift** and also because he said "happy". Both of these were not Fang characteristics.

We had finally decided to build our own beach house on some secluded island. The kids had been bugging me for too long and I just gave in. Fang had found a deserted island off the coast of nowhere, gradually building up our home-away-from-home. We finished in under a week and have been here for a month.

I was standing under the door frame of my cozy room, on the edge of sleep. I had one shoulder rested against the side of the door, leaving my hands free to cover my mouth while I yawned or stretched. Now, I wished I hadn't left them free. This way, I **had** to accept Fang's gift.

"Um..." I said intelligently, half-heartedly reaching out for the gift, "Why?"

He shrugged silently, the one and only Fang characteristic I'd seen so far today. I looked down at the heart-shaped box, tied with a polka-dotted ribbon. All in all, it looked really cute. Not my kind of thing.

I slid the ribbon off of the package and hooked it around my arm. Popping open the lid, I glanced at each chocolate. No doubt about it, I loved chocolate. But from Fang?

"What's wrong with them?" I asked.

"What?" Fang replied, confused.

"I mean, you never give me things. You're just throwing this at me because nobody else would take it, right?"

His eyes showed a hint of anger as he replied, "No."

Ah, a man of many words.

"Oookay. But seriously, will they make me throw up?"

The dark-haired Avian-boy stiffened. It was clear I was making him mad, "If you don't like them, I'll just take them back."

"No, no, no," I pulled them away from his hands.

He retracted his hands and instead placed them in the pockets of his scruffy, old jeans, "Well, do you like them or not?"

"Yeah. Thanks," I said tiredly, rubbing my eyes.

"It's evident," he mumbled.

I frowned at him. He was being Fang, and I didn't like it. I know, that sounds weird.

"Look, I'm just tired, okay? They're great, really."

"It doesn't seem like it."

"What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with **you?** Can't you just accept a gift from me without criticizing what's in it?"

"Sorry, you just don't usually give me stuff," I said quietly.

"Well, if this is how you're gonna act when I do, maybe I won't ever again!" he escaladed to a shout with his last word and streaked off out the front door.

I shook my head, still in the doorway. As I headed into my room, shutting the door, I placed the heart box on the only table in my room. I shuffled my way over to my creaky, old bed and plopped down on it. I instantly fell asleep, not bothering to cover myself with a comforter.

* * *

"Morn' Iggy," I said groggily, still trying to walk properly. I'd literally just woken up a few minutes ago and let me tell you, I did not feel great.

"Bacon and eggs are on the menu for today," he replied, standing over the oven.

"Great," I said thankfully as I made my way over towards the fridge. I pulled out a carton of orange juice, grabbed a glass from a nearby cupboard and poured quickly. I placed it on the table and sat silently, waiting for the rest of my flock to awake.

An hour later, we were all digging in to a delicious, traditional breakfast made by the only chef in our family. Fang still wasn't awake (or so I'd thought) and we decided to eat without him.

When it was beginning to creep up to lunchtime, I decided it was time for dark-boy to finally get up. I opened the beach house door and took a sharp right to Fang's room. The door was open and I frowned. None of us left our doors open, just in case an enemy was attacking.

I peered in and stared at an empty bed.

"Is Fang alive?" Angel asked, giggling. She tossed a Frisbee out into the ocean and watched as Total ran after it.

"Yeah," I lied.

"Well, is he coming outside?" Nudge asked, her head bent down along with Gazzy's. They were busily making a sand castle.

Quick, Max, make up something, I told myself, "No, he said he was feeling sick." Perfect.

"Would that be lovesick?" Iggy smirked.

I didn't reply. I was too busy looking to the sky to be annoyed by The Blind Boy's remark. Why was I lying to the flock? We'd finally found peace, with nothing to worry about and here Fang **wasn't**. I didn't want the flock to get upset over something that would probably be resolved in a few hours. Fang would come back; he always did.

After a few hours of flitting back and forth between different bird-kids, I was starting to become worried. Yeah, Fang could cope by himself, but **I **couldn't cope without **him** being there.

I made a last-minute decision, "I'm just going to go out and um...buy some medicine for Fang." I mentally kicked myself.

"Medicine? Okay, Max, but I really don't think anything is safe for Avian hybrids," Iggy replied.

I rolled my eyes but forgot that Iggy couldn't see. Instead, I took a running jump over the ocean and spread my wings to begin flight. If Fang wasn't coming back on his own, then I was going to make him.

After searching for an hour and a half straight, I wound up with no Fang and really sore muscles. I landed softly on the outer edge of our island and approached the beach house. I was afraid someone had gone in to check on Fang; then I'd really be busted.

As I entered the house, I went into the kitchen and found the whole flock there (except for you-know-who of course). They all looked parched and were glugging glasses of water.

"Well, look who it is," Iggy said. Ironic how a blind kid can still sense your arrival.

"Um, hey," I said quietly.

"Did you find Fang?" Angel asked cheerfully.

"What?"

"C'mon, we noticed he wasn't here. He would have come out to go to the bathroom or something," Gazzy pointed out.

I shot daggers his way and he slumped, ashamed, against the kitchen counter, "No, I didn't find him."

The flock seemed unchanged as Nudge said, "Why did he leave?"

"Well, we had a fight last night," I mumbled, reaching for the fridge door handle.

"A fight? About what?" Angel asked sweetly, although the chances were she had already figured out what was going on.

"He gave me chocolates for Valentine's Day and—"

Just that half of a sentence earned high-pitched squeals from Angel and Nudge. I winced and went on, "He flipped out over nothing and took off. I thought he would come back and that's why I didn't go after him."

"So you lied and told us he was sick to keep us from worrying?" Iggy said calmly.

I frowned, confused, "How did you..."

"It's just a Max thing," he said after I had trailed off.

"Plus, there's a mind-reading girl around," Gazzy looked at Angel.

"Max," Nudge leaned on the counter next to the fridge, "He'll come back. He loves you, and us. He won't just leave us."

I cracked a small smile and looked around the room at my family. I turned back to Nudge, "You're right."

That night, Iggy made us a delicious pot roast, accompanied with peas, corn and rice. I almost forgot about who was missing. Almost.

After dinner, I let everyone disperse to their rooms and I ended up in mine as well. I picked up a magazine from my table, along with the box of chocolates. I unwrapped the only chocolate left. I'd pigged out this morning after lunch and really needed that last boost for the night. As I went to chuck the wrapper in the garbage, I stopped.

Throwing away this wrapper meant throwing away something more. I hadn't savoured Fang's gift, or really cared about it. If I really liked it, I needed to do something else with this last chocolate.

In a rush, I re-wrapped the chocolate up. When I found it wouldn't stay, I snatched some tape I had lying around from my oh-so-convenient table. I quickly put it back together, placed it neatly inside the box and tucked it under my arm. I grabbed my jacket and took off out of the house.

I flew aimlessly, still clutching the box of chocolates to my chest. I wasn't really familiar with this area and figured Fang wasn't either. I checked other nearby islands, some secluded (and deserted!) resorts but I couldn't find anyone.

But, as I was just about to give up, I found him; back at our island.

"Moron," I mumbled just loud enough for him to hear.

His face didn't change. I expected as much. He had his knees close to his chest and was resting his elbows on them, letting his arms hang down.

"Fang," I started cautiously, "It's not fair to go sailing into the night when you have other people who worry about you."

A sideways glance. I was getting somewhere! I sat down quietly in the sand beside him.

"To be honest, it wasn't that I didn't **like** your gift. I was just surprised that you gave me anything, considering I'd just learned what the holiday meant a few days ago," I continued.

I'd almost forgotten about the chocolate in my arms. I opened the box silently and picked out the last chocolate, unwrapped and rewrapped by the famous Maximum Ride. Of course, I'd done a horrible job of doing both.

I handed him the last one quietly. He looked at it, looked at me and hesitated. He slowly took it from my hands and rolled it over. He snorted.

"What? My taping job not good enough for you?" I asked.

"That's ironic," he said, almost to himself.

Two words.

"What is?" I folded my arms and turned my gaze out toward the ocean.

"It's taped down the middle..."

"And?"

"It looks like it shattered and you tried to fix it," he held it up so the porch light behind us could illuminate it.

"Uh oh, we better call the doctor; Bird-Boy Fang is having hallucinations!" I whispered playfully.

"No, seriously," he frowned, "it's almost like..."

"If you're going to keep trailing off, I'm gonna stop following your tracks," I said, irritated.

I saw what looked like a "Fang-blush" (which in our vocabulary, would be a half of a shade darker than his skin tone) colour his cheeks, "This kinda feels like what happened in here."

He pointed to his chest and instead of a Fang-blush, a full-on human blush filled his face. I was surprised at the words that had just come out of his mouth. Where was the real Fang?

"Um...oookay."

"See, this is my heart?" he pointed quietly.

"Right. And how did this heart break?" I played along.

"From someone denying a gift."

My hear t pounded, "But how did this heart get fixed?"

"From someone coming back."

"Who?" I asked breathlessly.

"You."

Ookay, that just made everything a little more awkward. And when I say a little, I mean a lot.

"Alright, well, I'm heading in," I said abruptly, moving to stand up. This emotional Fang was scaring me.

"No, wait. Just lie for a bit," he had his hand on my shoulder.

I silently agreed, reclaiming my place in the sand. I decided I should settle something it seemed Fang was dwelling on.

"You know, I actually really liked those chocolates."

"I know," he pointed to the empty box, the lid strewn beside me.

"Oh," I said quietly.

"Pig," he said after a few moments.

"Moron," I smiled.


End file.
